This is the best new app I’ve tried in a while. Hot off the press from the brilliant @jensmccabe and @shazow, #getupandmove is a lightweight Twitter app where you challenge your online friends to exercise with you.

For me, having virtual running buddies has been amazingly motivating, fun, and a great way to stay healthy while connecting with friends. Thank you, Jen!.

Ever tried to calculate and record calories on paper? It’s frustrating and cumbersome. That’s why I was excited to find DailyBurn‘s free iPhone app that takes care of it for me.

Not only does it have a great database that includes most grocery store brands and even many restaurant meals, but it calculates my ratio of fat/carbs/protein during the day, so I know how to balance the rest of my meals.

You can set target ranges and earn little apple icon rewards for meeting them. So easy to use, it’s a must-try if you have an iPhone..

Thousands of people have been tracking over 100 different measures of their health over the past year at CureTogether. It’s been amazing to see the range of what people track, from mood to sleep to miles to supplements.

You can track yourself for free here, and we’ll soon be announcing (drumroll, please!) a Pro version that includes advanced analytics for your health and lets you connect with people who match your health profile. Join in the fun and stay tuned!.

If you like brain candy, check out Ian Li’s Personal Informatics site. Ian does research at Carnegie Mellon University, and he has put together this amazingly beautiful, categorized list of all the self-tracking tools he could find. It’s fun to look around, and you just might find a gem that makes your life wonderful.

.
So these are my 5 favorites for getting in shape – free, easy, and fun. (If you have any other favorites, please let me know in the comments.)

We’ve recently launched http://wellbook.org . I suppose it can be considered a competitor to curetogether, but it’s a sufficiently different take that hopefully you won’t mind me adding this comment. It’s mainly oriented toward people with illnesses rather than people who are interested in optimizing fitness.